From webs to polylogarithms

Abstract

We compute a class of diagrams contributing to the multi-leg soft anomalous dimension through three loops, by renormalizing a product of semi-infinite non-lightlike Wilson lines in dimensional regularization. Using non-Abelian exponentiation we directly compute contributions to the exponent in terms of webs. We develop a general strategy to compute webs with multiple gluon exchanges between Wilson lines in configuration space, and explore their analytic structure in terms of $\alpha_{ij}$, the exponential of the Minkowski cusp angle formed between the lines $i$ and $j$. We show that beyond the obvious inversion symmetry $\alpha_{ij}\to 1/\alpha_{ij}$, at the level of the symbol the result also admits a crossing symmetry $\alpha_{ij}\to -\alpha_{ij}$, relating spacelike and timelike kinematics, and hence argue that in this class of webs the symbol alphabet is restricted to $\alpha_{ij}$ and $1-\alpha_{ij}^2$. We carry out the calculation up to three gluons connecting four Wilson lines, finding that the contributions to the soft anomalous dimension are remarkably simple: they involve pure functions of uniform weight, which are written as a sum of products of polylogarithms, each depending on a single cusp angle. We conjecture that this type of factorization extends to all multiple-gluon-exchange contributions to the anomalous dimension.